It was a dark, rainy night and only the pale moon lighted the scene a little. Shredder tried to find out if he had chosen the right way. He stared out in the darkness... Yes, it definitely was the area Krang had described. He stepped forward an suddenly halted. A strange noise made him stop and turn around. He could hardly believe his eyes - it just couldn't be real...



- At the turtles lair -

Leo, Mike, Raph and Don were sitting in front of their television set. It had been a week full of fun and relaxing moments, because Splinter had decided to leave them alone for a while.

"We haven't seen Shredder for quite a long time", Raphael said, looking at the others.

"And hopefully we won't see him today or tomorrow or..." Mikey grinned.

"Okay, okay", Leo interrupted. "I think it's enough."

At this moment Leo's turtle comm went off. "Leo here. What's up?"

"Hi. I think there's something interesting happening." April sounded a bit nervous as she was talking and Leo could tell from the lines on her face that something strange had occurred.

"Yes... what is it, April?"

"I just heard that somebody had stolen a machine from Fleet Industries. We don't know the type of the machine yet, but I'll tell you as soon as possible."

"Alright, thank you April. We'll come over there", Leo answered and, turning to his friends, he announced: "I think we have a job to do."

They stopped their Van after they'd reached the area. "Looks like we have come here for nothing", Mike said, looking around a bit disappointed.

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we will see."

They stood there for a few minutes an discussed if going back and waiting for April's next call was better than getting wet in the pouring rain.

"I think we don't have to wait for any further instructions", Leonardo said, pointing at a shadowy person.

"Shredder!", Mike, Raph and Don yelled in unison. "Who else?", Leo added a bit sarcastically.

While watching the scene their thoughts about what Shredder was doing here changed a little. "He doesn't seem to have any machine with him", Don whispered to the others.



Shredder halted in the middle of the yard he had run in and looked around nervously. Did he escape? His hopes were destroyed as he looked back. He had no time to think of a better plan, so he started climbing a small fire escape which led to the rooftop.

Leo turned to the others. "Am I crazy? What is he doing here?"

"Seems he's in troubles", Mike replied, still watching what was happening in front of him.

The next second a kind of silvery flash appeared. The four turtles covered their eyes with their hands till the light faded. Shredder, who had tried to evade the attack, lost his balance and fell down.

"He really *is* in big troubles", Raph said in total astonishment.

Leo and his brothers decided to wait next to their Van for a while. "I think, whatever it had been, it's gone", Raph said after about five minutes. And he was right, there hadn't been anything strange since the silver flash had disappeared.

"I hope so", Donnie added, still staring out in the dark. He turned to his brothers. "Okay, let's have a look!"

"Wait!", Raph held him back. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna try to find out what Shredder had been searching for, what else did you think?!"

Raph slowly nodded and followed his brothers.

"Err...perhaps I'm wrong", Raphael said, giving his brothers a sarcastically grin, "but I'd say Shredder won't answer our questions now..."

Donatello sighed. He had to admit that Raph was right. Shredder had lost his consciousness as he had hit the ground. "Well...umm...wouldn't it be...", he hesitated, looking at his brothers. "I'd say we should take him to the sewer. What do you think, dudes?"

Raph, Leo and Mike stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you crazy?! He is our *enemy*, remember?!" Raph shook his head - why did he have such a brother?

But obviously Donnie wasn't interested in his opinion. "Master Splinter isn't here, so what should be the problem?"

"*Shredder* is the problem!"

"Hey, Raph, we really should get to know what he wanted to do here... and what had happened. Remember what April told us! I'm sure Shredder knows what machine she was talking about."

Raph still couldn't believe his ears. "So you really think tin-face would tell us, if he knew?!"

"Ummm...if he had no other choice - yes!"

"Okay, I'd say we should at least try it", Leo broke in. "Something rather weird is happening and we should find out what it is."